Gryffindor Seaming

Can you believe it? I'm actually to the finishing of Gryffindor Mourning! I had hoped to have it finished for today, but at 11:00 PM last night, I decided I was done for the day, so here's where I'm at. I've sewn the shoulder seams and done the neckband (which badly needs blocking), then I put the sleeves in (more about that in a minute) and I'm about halfway through one underarm seam. You can see where the needle is, is where I stopped. All I have to do is finish the first underarm seam and sew the other one, weave in the ends, and block the thing one last time and its ready to wear! Its supposed to get cold and rainy again this weekend so I'll probably wear it then.

About the sleeves, I know that on set in sleeves you are technically supposed to sew the sleeve seams and the side seams before you set the sleeve into the body of the garment. I know this. I have done this, religiously, on every sweater I've ever done with set in sleeves, until the one I knit right before this (it wasn't blogged, for reasons that shall become clear at some point in the future). On the last sweater, I sewed the sleeves in before I did the underarm seams and that is the first sweater that the sleeves went in perfectly, smoothly, and IDENTICAL TO EACH OTHER. Every other set in sleeve I have ever done, I've gotten one sleeve in perfectly and the other one I fight with. I knit the sleeves together at the same time. (Two balls of yarn, the same needle.) They have identical shaping and identical gauge. I do the armscye shaping identically also. I keep obsessive notes about measurements and row number so the front and back are identical. If the sweater is a cardigan, I do both fronts at the same time, like the sleeves. There is no way, the sleeve caps and armscyes aren't identical, but I always fought with at least one sleeve (when you fight with both sleeves, that's probably a sign that you made a mistake knitting it, or unfortunately, the designer flubbed on the sleeve cap shaping and you need to redesign it - not fun, but necessary if you want the sweater to fit and look good). That is, I always fought with at least one sleeve, until my previous sweater. Now I designed that sweater, but I can't believe that I am such a wonderful designer that I designed the best fitting sleeve cap and armscye I've ever knitted. So, I figured I must be on to something with the whole sewing-things-together-in-the-wrong-order idea. So, I gave it a try on Gryffindor Mourning and guess what? IT WORKED! I will never sew a set in sleeve into a sweater the right way again.

(Wow, after re reading this post, I sound so Scarlett O'Hara in that last line.)